


An Unfamiliar Storm

by goldenwanderer



Category: The Wicked Years Series - Gregory Maguire, Wicked - All Media Types, Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: Community: 1sentence, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 05:09:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3838315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenwanderer/pseuds/goldenwanderer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A tale of Elphaba and Glinda in fifty sentences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unfamiliar Storm

**Author's Note:**

> This is my attempt at turning a 50-sentence challenge into a single, chronological story. It took way too long - about four-and-a-half years, off and on (mostly off) - but it's finally finished.
> 
> The storyline here is an odd amalgamation of bookverse, musicalverse, and personal headcanon. Some parts are inspired by the musical, others by the book, and overall the whole thing is somewhat AU. There are some plot holes, but for the most part you should be able to follow it.
> 
> This story is primarily about Elphaba and Glinda, but I also have a soft spot for bookverse!Fiyero and his relationship with Elphaba, so there's a little of that in here, too.

#01 – Air – As she breathes in the sweet air of Shiz University, filled with the smells of old books and old buildings and old trees, Elphaba promises herself that everything will be different now.

#02 – Apples – Apples are the fruit of knowledge, Galinda has been told, so she makes certain to eat one as she arrives at Shiz to begin her education.

#03 – Beginning – It begins because Elphaba needs a roommate and Galinda is too concerned with being heard to listen.

#04 – Bugs – Galinda squeals and jumps up onto her bed while Elphaba rolls her eyes, takes care of the matter, and says, “It’s only a bug, Miss Galinda – do try to contain yourself while I’m reading."

#05 – Coffee – It takes at least one cup of coffee to get Galinda through the day; she does not understand how Elphaba, who barely sleeps, functions without ever drinking a drop.

#06 – Dark – One night as she lies in bed, Elphaba is surprised to hear Galinda shuffling about in the dark – not because it is at all unusual for Galinda to stay out later than Elphaba, but because, for the first time, Galinda has not deliberately turned on the lights to wake and bother her.

#07 – Despair – “Please, Elphaba, I’m desperate,” says Galinda one day, and Elphaba knows she really must be, because ordinarily Galinda would never ask for anything – not even help on homework – from her green roommate.

#08 – Doors – Elphaba isn’t sure why she is so upset when the Winkie prince walks through the door for the first time, but she tells herself that it definitely is _not_ because Galinda is so excited at the prospect of dating the handsome boy.

#09 – Drink – “We’re all going out for a drink,” Galinda says one evening, and she drags Elphaba along – then proceeds to drink too much, so Elphaba is forced to do the dragging on the way home.

#10 – Duty – Elphaba is used to her duty to take care of Nessarose, but this newfound sense of responsibility for Galinda’s well-being is all new to her, and the fact that she cannot understand where it comes from troubles her to no end.

#11 – Earth – “I fell down,” Galinda explains to Elphaba one afternoon, fully expecting her roommate to laugh at her expense – but Elphaba doesn’t, and when she wipes the earth from Galinda’s cheek, Galinda shivers with unanticipated pleasure and considers repeating her fall in the dirt just so Elphaba will do _that_ again.

#12 – End – When Elphaba – the silly green thing – tries to explain her feelings for Galinda to Galinda, Galinda grows impatient and ends the speech the best way she knows how – with a kiss so unexpected and passionate that it silences Elphaba instantly.

#13 – Fall – Elphaba stumbles a few steps back as Galinda releases her from the kiss – _did that really just happen?_ – and falls over something (one of Galinda’s hatboxes, maybe), and she is too busy staring up at Galinda to notice that she’s landed solidly on her ass.

#15 – Flexible – Elphaba’s body goes rigid as Galinda joins her on the floor, placing her hands on either side of her face, but when Galinda smiles and kisses her again, Elphaba forgets everything and lets her body yield to Galinda’s.

#16 – Flying – Thinking of Elphaba makes Galinda feel as though she can fly; every now and then she looks down, just to see if the ground is still there under her feet.

#17 – Food – “Try this,” Galinda insists, and before Elphaba can answer, whatever-it-is is in Elphaba’s mouth, and Elphaba’s first instinct is to be annoyed and protest, but Galinda’s smile is so beautiful right then that Elphaba keeps her mouth shut and simply chews.

#18 – Foot – Strange to think that a few months ago, Galinda would not have considered letting Elphaba anywhere near her bed, and now here she is, giving Galinda a foot massage as she tries (mostly unsuccessfully) to study.

#19 – Grave – Galinda’s mood changes dramatically after Dr. Dillamond’s removal, but Elphaba has no idea how deep the change is until one afternoon, a week later, when Galinda gravely announces her decision to change her name to simply “Glinda."

#20 – Green – Breathless, Elphaba manages to say, “I should warn you – I really _am_ green _everywhere_ ,” not knowing, as Glinda removes each piece of her clothing, that Glinda does not think she has ever seen anything more beautiful than Elphaba’s emerald green skin.

#21 – Head – It seems to Elphaba that Madame Morrible is staring at her the morning after, and Elphaba wonders whether there’s something about her that might let the Headmistress know _exactly_ what Elphaba did to her roommate last night.

#22 – Hollow – Glinda loves Elphaba, loves the feeling of wholeness she feels when she’s with her, but sometimes it scares Glinda that everything she used to know, everything she once believed in, now feels hollow, meaningless; it scares her even more to admit to herself that sometimes, she’d almost like it all back.

#23 – Honor – An invitation from The Wizard himself is the highest honor Elphaba has ever received, so she insists that Glinda do her the honor of accompanying her on this life-changing journey, for she will need all the love and support she can get.

#24 – Hope – “I do hope there are as many shops in the Emerald City as they say,” Glinda says one night, as she lies in Elphaba’s arms on the train to the city, and when she adds that she needs to find a green dress to wear, Elphaba smirks and remarks that she was under the impression that pink went good with green.

#25 – Light – Even the light in the Emerald City seems green, but the light is nothing compared to the glow on Elphaba’s face as she walks around the city with Glinda.

#26 – Lost – Much is lost that day: Elphaba’s dreams are lost when she learns the truth about the Wizard; her control is lost as she flees to the top of the palace; her dignity is lost as Morrible proclaims her a Wicked Witch; her temper is lost when Glinda tries to get her to reconsider; and any hopes she ever had for a future with Glinda are lost as she takes to the sky – alone – and is lost from sight.

#27 – Metal – As Glinda stumbles back down to the Wizard’s audience chamber to falsely plead innocence, she is disgusted by the huge metal head, with all the lies and falsities it hides, and she has to force herself not to think of how disgusted she should be with _herself_ right now.

#28 – New – She is not naïve enough to think that living on the run is glamorous in any way; all it really means is that she constantly has to find new places to live, new sources of food to eat, and new ways not to think of Glinda.

#29 – Old – Upon returning to Shiz, Glinda is surprised to realize just how little patience she has for old friends and silly gossip; she’s grown up, she supposes, though it came at a cost she wishes she never had to pay.

#30 – Peace – The Wizard preaches peace, and though it’s not the peace Elphaba would have wanted, it’s better than no peace at all – or so Glinda tries to convince herself every single day.

#31 – Poison – Sometimes Elphaba allows herself to think of Glinda at night, with one hand on her breast and one between her legs, but though the memories bring release, it is like sipping from a cup of milk and honey laced with poison; she swears she’ll give it up, but she never can.

#32 – Pretty – Women call Glinda pretty and men call her beautiful, but the compliments do not make her feel the way they used to.

#33 – Rain – Fiyero finds her in a rainstorm, shrouded in an overlarge black cloak, contemplating letting the rain burn her away, and once the surprise wears off, he pulls her away to what he believes is safety.

#34 – Regret – She never tells Fiyero about Glinda, about the regret she feels over leaving her behind; it does not matter now, and she lets herself be caught up in _him_ instead.

#35 – Roses – Chuffrey, ever the romantic, proposes in a room filled with roses, and Glinda knows no way to refuse him, so she doesn’t.

#36 – Secret – The true nature of Elphaba’s work is the other secret she keeps from Fiyero, for she will put no one else in danger for her sake.

#37 – Snakes – With his body snaked around hers in the afterglow, Elphaba thinks perhaps she could love him if she tried, but she is not certain her heart could bear it again.

#38 – Snow – Glinda finds her in a snowstorm, barely visible beneath the swirling white and flowing black, and the sound of her voice upon the wind is perhaps the most beautiful sound Elphaba has heard in a very long while.

#39 – Solid – Glinda comes to her now, the way Fiyero used to, and now Elphaba is the solid one, steadfast and warm, pretending that Glinda’s touch will go on forever.

#40 – Spring – But when spring comes, and Glinda’s safety is nearly compromised, Elphaba retreats to Fiyero’s old castle in Winkie country while Glinda is forced back into the wizard’s service, and they have never hated the wizard more.

#41 – Stable – The loss of Glinda a second time leaves Elphaba floundering, with only her own determination keeping her from collapsing into insanity.

#42 – Strange – The Good Witch becomes something of a mystery to the people of Oz, arriving now and again by bubble, with too-wide smiles and cryptic words of wisdom, never staying long enough to be known by anyone.

#43 – Summer – The girl arrives in the summer, dropped in a house by an unfamiliar storm, crushing one of the last tethers of Elphaba’s dwindling sanity.

#44 – Taboo – It is Glinda who teaches the girl to fear and despise the Wicked Witch, and to Elphaba it feels as much a betrayal as the casual giving away of Nessa’s shoes.

#45 – Ugly – The slippers are actually quite ugly, in Elphaba’s opinion, but that isn’t the point – though, when she stops to think about it, Elphaba cannot quite articulate, even to herself, what the point is.

#46 – War – They declare an armistice shortly before the farm girl and her friends arrive at the castle, with apologies and tears and stolen kisses; then Glinda hides, while Elphaba surrenders.

#47 – Water – It ends because of a bucket of water thrown by a female child, and as she reports it to the people of Oz, Glinda feels as though she is drowning in unshed tears.

#48 – Welcome – The people that live outside Oz are happy to take in the Scarecrow, but no matter where she goes, the Wicked Witch is not welcome; they part ways eventually, for he has found a new life and hers remains behind.

#49 – Winter – The days after Elphaba’s death feel like a never-ending winter to Glinda, though she never lets anyone else know just how dark and cold her life has become.

#50 – Wood – Elphaba finds her in a windstorm, standing at the edge of a forest, golden curls blowing and pink dress rippling wildly, as yet unaware that her love has come back to take her away on the breeze.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the 1sentence challenge on Livejournal; Delta prompts.


End file.
